


Calliope

by smallorbits



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-10-17 14:19:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10595766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallorbits/pseuds/smallorbits
Summary: every so often, i ask for prompts on ask.fm. this is the collection of loose ficlets that result from those prompts, all previously posted on either ask.fm or twitlonger.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> anon asked for chanyeol and his muse, jongin.

writer chanyeol and his muse, lithe graceful kim jongin, a fine arts dance major who moved in to replace chanyeol's old roommate.

"do i look like this?" jongin asks in awe when he stumbles across chanyeol's manuscripts despite chanyeol's desperate attempts to hide them. "do i look so beautiful when i dance?"

chanyeol may be a writer, but even then his words, always a solace and comfort, fail him at a moment like this.

"how does it work, being a muse? can you paint me with words? if i tilt my head like this, do words spring to your head?" he stretches his arms to his side and wriggles his toes, a poor imitation of a tour en l'air, but it's enough to draw chanyeol's gaze to the way his muscles ripple under his shirt, too threadbare to even pass as something decent.

you are delicate but strong, elegant but firm. you are beautiful in every sense of the word, my muse-

-is what chanyeol wants to say, but he bites his lips and says nothing instead, snatching the manuscripts back from jongin and stuffing them into the drawer. "i wasn't done."

"do i have to act a certain way?" jongin laughs, the slightest tremour in its lightness. "i feel burdened now, like i have to watch what i do."

you are perfect just the way you are, chanyeol doesn't say. "sorry i wrote about it you without your permission," chanyeol says belatedly. "do you mind-?"

jongin worries his bottom lip, swinging his legs back and forth in a way that makes him seem younger than his years, amplifies the alluring innocent that both fascinates and guilts chanyeol. "but you have to pay me back in dinners. i miss homecooked food."

hands stained with kimchi juice is worth trading for jongin letting chanyeol watch him dance for hours on the end. oil splatters on his favourite shirt is worth it to have jongin shuffle closer to chanyeol after a particularly long practice session, laying his head down against chanyeol's shoulder with his eyes closed, "just a moment, hyung, let's stay like this for a just a moment more."

chanyeol isn't going anywhere, not when his heart is already stained with jongin's ink.


	2. Mneme

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> inspired by human of new york. chanyeol picks up a new hobby and sparks a future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anon asked for non-romantic chankai. originally posted on twitlonger.

chanyeol clutches the camera in his hand like it's his last lifeline.

it's heavy in his palm, heavier in his pocket because a huge chunk of his wallet was exchanged for this treasure.

he doesn't particularly like photography but he needs a hobby just to fill the time between his classes and his part time job at the book cafe. maybe he should have thought things through before giving up a month's paycheck for a half baked dream.

"you're just going to give up in two weeks again," his best friend, kyungsoo says.

"i won't."

"remember painting lessons?"

"it takes a certain kind of talent to stab a pencil through the canvas," chanyeol argues. "it's a pity the art centre didn't appreciate me."

"hidden picasso, park chanyeol," kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "in all seriousness, why don't you start a blog? it'll encourage you to keep going and you can document your progress."

chanyeol hums around his straw and delights in the air bubbles in his drink. "what about though? i can't just walk around with a camera and capture whatever strikes my fancy."

"isn't that the point of photography? you can start with street snaps, move up to portraits. you're a friendly guy; i think you'll like photos of people more than scenery."

 

♡

 

chanyeol wanders the park in search for a subject on a sunny spring day. it's not long before his gaze falls on a man sitting on a bench. what draws him to him is not his face, though he's very good looking, but the way that he's looking at another person, another man playing with three dogs in the distance. without thinking, chanyeol raises his camera.

the click of the shutter draws the man's attention, head whipping towards chanyeol with his mouth half open in surprise. "hey, sorry. you just looked- i didn't mean to-"

the man melts into a reassuring smile and chanyeol's shoulders fall with relief. "can i see it?"

chanyeol settles down next to the man and obediently shows him the camera.

"wow," he laughs. "that's a good photograph."

chanyeol beams. "thanks! i paid a lot for this fancy camera so it better be nice." it's not the tool of the artist but the skill, chanyeol knows. but it's hard to ignore the price tag on his little whim. "anyway, i'm chanyeol. it's my first day with this baby."

the smile he gets in return is warm. "i'm jongin."

"do you know him?" chanyeol dares to venture, curiosity getting the better of him.

"no," jongin sighs, looking back at the dog walker that caught his attention. "but i think love him."

chanyeol can barely hide his surprise. "love?"

"like, infatuated, enamoured. maybe? he's beautiful. i think i could love him." jongin pauses and laughs, his eyes crinkling into slits that make him look younger in a flash. "i'm 22. what do i know about love?"

"22 is plenty old enough to know love," chanyeol says. they fall into a comfortable silence, watching the man play with a white bishon puppy. "mind if i share this? on my personal tumblr. i'm trying to be a portrait photographer."

jongin shrugs. "will he see it?"

"i don't know," chanyeol mulls about it. "probably not, but maybe."

jongin's crinkle with a smile. "do it. i hope he sees it."

they talk a little more and chanyeol takes down notes, crosschecking the caption with jongin. "i hope it works out," chanyeol wishes him luck. "can i have your number? i'll let you know when i post it up."

 

♡

 

chanyeol uploads the photograph on his tumblr, not thinking too much of it, and goes to sleep. he wakes up to his phone pinging every three seconds. the photo has gone viral in his sleep, racking up over 20 thousand reblogs and likes in mere hours.

from the flood of comments and asks he receives, chanyeol finds that they like the soft look on jongin's face, a longing that captures the feeling of love at first sight. they like the way the shadows fall on jongin's features and the sweet possibility of romance. most of all, they like his caption, an excerpt of their conversation.

 

_"he's beautiful. i think i could love him."_

_"why don't you go for him?"_

_"what if he doesn't love me back?"_

_"sometimes you have to take a risk."_

 

at jongin's permission and the urging of his followers, he reblogs the photo and adds a brief description of the dog walker.

within hours, he has another thousand reblogs.

buzzfeed picks it up and runs a story to search for the Mysterious Dog Walker. suddenly, the whole of the internet is obsessed with this budding love story and chanyeol gains thousands of followers.

jongin calls him that night and laughs incredulously, "chanyeol, what did you start?"

 

♡

 

it takes two days, but maybe two days too long before the miracle happens. he receives a message from the username dancingkid94.

_hey, i think i'm the man you mean in that photo. could it be near the yeouido park?_

chanyeol almost spills his coffee in his haste to contact jongin again.

 

♡

 

for weeks after, chanyeol doesn't update his blog. the endless stream of messages he gets is tiring and he's a bit alarmed by the attention he's getting.

he takes more pictures, of kyungsoo, of his parents, of the cherry blossoms budding on the trees lining the park. nothing strikes him the same way the photograph of jongin did.

_i think you're the best work i could have ever taken_ , he jokes with jongin, only half kidding. _i reached my peak._

they're friends now, pulled together with the unlikeliest of stories. 

  
_i'm glad to  be your peak_ , jongin replies with a string of heart emojis.

 

♡

 

silence. the blog remains quiet for a full month and the buzz eventually fades away, everyone's fickle attention captured by yet another viral story.

chanyeol and jongin keep in touch and chanyeol finally gets to meet dancingkid94, looking every bit as sunny as he had been that fateful day.

it's on that quiet afternoon that chanyeol finally uploads the final post on his blog. it is a photograph of a printed polaroid, of two entwined hands, and the scrawled words, slanted on it - thank you.

the internet explodes once more, but chanyeol never logs into the account again.

 

♡

 

one sunny spring day, chanyeol uploads a photograph. he uploads a beginning. chanyeol's found his hobby.


	3. a new family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chanyeol and jongin adopt a puppy.

the moment they set foot in the door, jongin crouches down on the ground and lowers his head.

"little guy, heads up!"

chanyeol rolls his eyes at baekhyun and gets a bright grin in return. no one can stop jongin from his welcoming rituals.

a shrill bark rings across the room and there's the excited patter of footsteps as a little furball dives straight for jongin. monggu the poodle runs up to jongin and bumps the crown of their heads together as they always do, tail wagging so fast, it's a blur of brown. jongin laughs and lets monggu knock him over onto his behind, cradling the wriggling ball of fur in his arms.

"high five, little man!" jongin cheers, but he doesn't give monggu the chance to lift his paw before he smushes his face into monggu's, nuzzling their cheeks together. "awfully proud of yourself, aren't you? got three little ones to call your own."

baekhyun beams like he's the father instead, smiling over at the mess of blankets in the corner of the room tenderly, "and one of them will be yours now, so choose well."

"they're small, so handle with care, okay," baekhyun warns when jongin rushes over to look at the puppies. he crouches down to watch jongin's every move intently, afraid that the little pups would get injured by jongin's eager but clumsy hands.

"you trust me enough to adopt one!" jongin protests, plopping down cross legged near the nest, far enough that jangah doesn't view him as a treat. jangah lifts her head lazily and settles back down after a quick peek, completely disinterested in jongin.

"i trust chanyeol," baekhyun corrects. "somewhat. you're the one i'm worried about. i feel like you might creep back in the middle of the night to steal the other two."

 

 

 

there are three puppies rolling around near their mom, getting tangled in the blankets. the runt of the litter, with its brown fur, pounces on another tan puppy, but it misses and falls face first. the puppy sits up, seemingly disoriented and lets out a sneeze. jongin can't help but laugh, fingers reaching out to pet the puppy's head.

pleased at the attention, the puppy bounds over and clambers into jongin's lap, nudging at jongin's palm to get him to pet it.

"that's jjanggu." baekhyun looks over at chanyeol and chanyeol nods, both knowing that jongin has already chosen his puppy. “not to play favourites, but she’s the cutest of the bunch.”

"daddy's going to teach you to pee all over mommy's socks," jongin coos, tickling jjanggu under the chin. ten seconds in and he's enamored already, barely glancing at the other puppies. the way he smiles at the puppy is the same way he smiles at chanyeol when he thinks chanyeol isn’t looking, all soft and adoring, like he’s already given his heart away.

"you only wear my clothes," chanyeol reminds him. jongin likes to plod around in chanyeol’s oversized sweaters, the sleeves covering his fists. it drives chanyeol crazy, and jongin knows it.

jongin acts like he doesn't even hear chanyeol. "tiny dude's going to be my homeboy." he holds a fist out in front of jjanggu and lets the dog lick him enthusiastically. "we'll drive mommy crazy, won't we?"

"um, jjanggu's a girl." baekhyun says, and grins at chanyeol. "and last i checked, _mommy_ sure isn't."

"shh," chanyeol waves dismissively at baekhyun. "today is the happiest day of jongin's life. he can call me whatever he want."

jongin lifts jjanggu up and takes a peek to double check. "aww, i promised chanyeol i wouldn't have any other woman in my life."

"maybe," chanyeol says, watching his boyfriend with an indulgent smile. "we'll make an exception for just this one."


	4. chankai: kiss kiss fall in love summer au

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anon asked for chankai summer au!

every year, the university throws huge summer festivals, nights of music, cheap food and stalls taking over the campus.

it’s jongin’s favourite time of the year and he yells this into the air, feeling carefree and tipsy from the chicken and beer they had earlier. sehun mumbles that he’s embarrassing but jongin doesn’t care, happily sucking on the popsicles they bought to alleviate the summer heat.

they walk past some festival games and jongin stops sehun, pointing at a balloon dart game stall. “that doll looks like monggu! i miss my child,” jongin says, pouting at sehun as sehun pretends to hate it.

“hold my popsicle sehun i’m bringing monggu home.” he ignores sehun’s protests and pushes his popsicle into sehun’s grasp, shoving him aside to buy five darts from the stall attendant.

with the alcohol in his system, his first shot sways over the stall, drawing giggles from the crowd. his second and third shot hits the mark, bursting two balloons.

“jongin, your popsicle is melting,” sehun whines, bumping him with his hip and making jongin miss his fourth throw. “whatever, i’m leaving.”

“don’t be difficult,” jongin squints at his target and blindly shoots his arm out to grab sehun, pulling his hand in and taking a suck out of his popsicle.

except he tastes melon, not the strawberry he bought.

jongin finally takes a look at whoever is beside him and realises he has his lips wrapped around another man’s popsicle. a complete stranger who is unfortunately very handsome and totally jongin’s type.

jongin lets his mouth go slack and very slowly pulls off the popsicle, suddenly aware of how there’s a string of saliva still connected.

the man looks a little awed, gaze fixed on jongin’s lips. “wow.”

jongin burns with mortification and takes two steps back. “i uh, i thought you were my friend.”

“well i’m not. i’m chanyeol,” the man looks amused, so at least he’s not angry. he holds out the popsicle and offers, “do you want my popsicle?”

“i’m... jongin,” jongin says on autopilot. he accepts the popsicle too because his mind has stopped completely and all he wants to do is disappear. “thank... you?”

”you have one dart left. mind if i take over?”

still stunned, jongin nods and lets chanyeol take over. he looks even hotter as he aims and shoots the dart precisely, bursting the last balloon.

“the poodle, please,” he tells the stall attendant before jongin can say anything and hands the toy to jongin, who accepts it mutely.

maybe it’s the festival mood in the air, or the beer he’s had, but jongin steels himself and blurts out, “are you going somewhere? i- i saw another toy i wanted at the stall near the library. can you help me win it?”

chanyeol’s grin widens and his hand falls to loosely rest on jongin’s arm. “just lead the way, jongin. i’ll win you anything you want.”

summer truly is jongin’s favourite season.


	5. chankai: can i borrow a toddler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anon asked for fic based on this tweet: https://twitter.com/zuma_noluthando/status/932621353773125632

“junmyeon.”

“no.”

“you haven’t even heard what i’m asking.”

“the answer is no.”

“junmyeonnnnn.”

“what.”

“can i borrow your nephew? ... did you hang up on me? jun!”

 

♡

  
okay so chanyeol didn’t mean to get himself into this. it’s just that he’s always had a bit of a superhero complex and he loves children.

  
so when he found this adorable toddler wandering around aisle 9, he was determined to play superhero and reunite crying little sehunnie with his daddy.

and when this handsome man ran up to hug sehunnie, chanyeol had never been so grateful for his superhero dreams in his life.

“thank you so much,” sehun’s dad gushed, cuddling a sniffling sehun to his chest in a way that looks so warm, it makes chanyeol wish he was a two year old. sehun reaches out to tug on his dad's hair and chanyeol is taken by how soft his hair looks, especially when falling into his eyes. “i look away for one second and sehun was gone! he’s almost two and just learned how to walk, you see.”

“oh yeah i get it. my two year old is hard to handle too,” chanyeol had blurted and why did he even say that?? the only two year old he knows is toben, his toy poodle, who admittedly might be as much a handful as an actual two year old child.

it was worth it though, to see jongin, as he had introduced himself, light up and graciously extend an invitation to sehun’s second birthday as a show of gratitude.

and chanyeol, being chanyeol and blinded by jongin’s pretty smile, said yes.

which brings us back to this, chanyeol juggling toben in one hand and trying to tug a party hat onto its head with another, very determinedly ignoring jongdae’s judging eyes.

“you could just come clean in a text, say you were thinking with your dick and apologise,” jongdae says. he makes so much sense that chanyeol refuses to listen to him.

“you’re going to be the cutest two year old at the party,” chanyeol coos at toben and slams the door in jongdae’s face extra loudly just to make a point.

 

♡

 

“oh,” jongin says as he opens the door, eyes wider than ever and he’s so cute, chanyeol regrets nothing. “a puppy.”

“meet my two year old?” chanyeol grins, feigning ignorance and jongin, bless his soul, laughs and just lets him in.

 

♡

 

toben is unsurprisingly a hit at the birthday party.

“sehun likes toben a lot,” jongin comments an hour later. they just finished handing out the cake to all the children and chanyeol is ashamed to say he ate more cake than all the kids in the room. he's pretty sure some of the moms are judging him, the ones who haven't been cooing at how handsome he is anyway.

chanyeol watches sehun yank on toben’s tail and isn’t sure toben returns the loving sentiments but he agrees all the same because jongin! is sitting next to him!

if chanyeol so much as moves an inch, his pinky would touch jongin’s and for a moment he’s lost in his fantasies, until jongin clears his throat.

“yknow, since sehun likes toben so much, maybe you could bring him over for a play date?”

jongin seems to get nervous at chanyeol’s stunned silence and barrels on, “i mean, sehun has baby yoga on sundays but we could do saturdays? maybe?”

“yeah,” chanyeol agrees, smiling so wide it makes jongin pause for a bit.

“let me... go get my scheduler.” and jongin hurries off, leaving a lovestruck chanyeol behind.

 _sorry toben_ , chanyeol thinks dreamily, _you have to sacrifice some fur for the sake of daddy’s happiness._


End file.
